The Edmonton Oilers centre has played under four different head coaches in his six years with the club.

Dallas Eakins represents his fifth head coach, hired by the Oilers on the weekend to replace Ralph Krueger.

“I was surprised just like a lot of people, when I heard about the change,” Gagner said. “Just from a players perspective, it was surprising. But at the end of the day, when the results aren’t there, you have to expect some change.

“We heard a lot about that, that there was going to be a lot of change throughout the off-season. For us as players, it’s just another wakeup call for us to turn things around.”

Gagner, 23, started his days with the Oilers playing for Craig MacTavish, who’s now the general manager and who orchestrated the change at the head coaching position.